KD ROLLS ANKLE IN WARMUPS
Devin Booker scored 44 points, Terrence Ross added 24 and the Phoenix Suns beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 132-101 on Wednesday night after losing Kevin Durant to an ankle injury during pregame warmups.
Suns 132, Thunder 101
Phoenix has won four straight games, but that was almost an afterthought following Durant’s injury.
The game was supposed to be the home debut with his new team. A 13-time All-Star, Durant was added in a blockbuster trade deadline deal with Brooklyn and the Footprint Center was buzzing in anticipation.
But he rolled his left ankle while driving to the basket as he prepared to play. The 6foot-10 forward immediately hopped up and was walking, but several minutes later, the Suns confirmed that he would miss the game.
With Durant out, Suns fans had to settle for a scoring show by Booker, who had 30 points during the first half.
The three-time All-Star shot 17 of 23, making 6 of 10 3pointers. Ross also was 6 of 10 from 3-point range. Chris Paul has 18 points and nine assists. He made 4 of 5 3pointers.
Oklahoma City played without All-Star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander because of “abdominal strain injury management.” Lindy Waters III led the Thunder with 23 points.
Celtics 115, Trail Blazers 93: Jayson Tatum scored 30 points and made six 3-pointers and Boston beat visiting Portland to snap a threegame losing streak.
Tatum had his 36th game this season with 30 or more points to help the Celtics avoid their first four-game losing streak.
Derrick White added 21 points and five assists. The Celtics played without big man Robert Williams for the third straight game as he recovers from a strained left hamstring.
Damian Lillard had 27 points and eight assists for Portland.
Bulls 117, Nuggets 96:
Nikola Vucevic had 25 points and 15 rebounds, Zach LaVine scored 29 points on 12of-18 shooting and Chicago won at Denver.
Chicago moved within a game of Washington for the final spot in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament, with 16 games left in the regular season.
Nikola Jokic led Western Conference-leading Denver with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Aaron Gordon had 17 points and nine rebounds.
Clippers 108, Raptors 100:
Kawhi Leonard scored 24 points, Paul George had 23 and host Los Angeles broke away in the second half to beat Toronto.
Leonard also had seasonhigh 12 rebounds against the team he helped lead to the NBA title in 2019.
Cavaliers 104, Heat 100:
Darius Garland scored 25 points, Donovan Mitchell added 18 and Cleveland assured itself of a second consecutive winning season with a victory over host Miami.
Jimmy Butler had 28 points for Miami.
Pelicans 113, Mavericks 106: CJ McCollum scored 13 of his 32 points in the final four minutes and New Orleans held off visiting Dallas.
Dallas star guard Luka Doncic left in the third because of a strained left thigh after scoring 15 points. The Pelicans’ Brandon Ingram left late in the second quarter with a sprained right ankle after scoring 12 points.
Kyrie Irving had 27 points for Dallas.
Hawks 122, Wizards 120:
De’Andre Hunter’s threepoint play with 1:07 remaining put Atlanta ahead to stay, and the Hawks won at Washington despite a career-high 43 points by Kristaps Porzingis.
Trae Young led Atlanta with 28 points and 10 assists.
Notable
Grizzlies guard Ja Morant will be away from the team for at least four more games, the team said on Wednesday, shortly after police announced that he will not face charges in Colorado related to the livestreamed video in which he appeared to be displaying a gun in a strip club.